A victimless crime?

A priest accused of downloading kiddie “pr0n” from the Internet has pleaded guilty and his bishop i nthe Diocese of Scranton, Penn., responds:

Bishop Joseph Adamec, in a statement issued after Figurelle’s resignation, said, “It is truly tragic that sexual and physical abuse of minors continues to occur. It is deplorable when that occurs at the hands of priests within the Roman Catholic Church.” But, Adamec also pointed out, “As far as we know, there are no victims involved in this case other than those victimized by the Internet itself.”

No victims? Okay, I understand that the bishop is trying to put at ease the minds of parents in the priest’s parish, but still….

Child pr0nography is not a victimless crime. The children were not victimized by the Internet. That’s like saying that kids who were videotaped being molested were victimized by televisions. The people who take the pictures, do the molesting, and yes, those who view it are all guilty of the crime. Otherwise, to what was the priest pleading guilty?

Bishop Adamec is minimizing what the priest has done. It’s no less sinful than if he did the abuse himself.

(I used the neologisms “pr0n” and “pr0nography” intentionally so that people who are looking for this stuff on search engines don’t come to my web site looking for it.)